Typically commercial and domestic premises are connected to the mains water supply merely by a meter and an isolation valve (tap). It is also common for outlets (taps) within the premises to be provided with water restriction devices to aid in reducing the volume of water consumed.
The above discussed systems suffer from the disadvantage that should a leak occur, for example in the water network of the premises, it cannot easily be detected. Particularly if the leak is visually not observable, then it may be some considerable time before the leak is detected.
Still further, the above water supply systems suffer from the disadvantage that the supply cannot be remotely controlled nor monitored.